Scott McCord

Toby Wachter

Sometimes in draft, you just need to make do with what you have. In the case of Scott McCord's first draft deck, his strategy seems to be copied straight from the ten year old kid at your local Friday Night Magic tournaments. Believe it or not, the two time Grand Prix Top 8 finisher is playing a Squirrel/Land Destruction deck.

Sideboard: So how did you end up drafting this...sort of deck?McCord: Well, I opened up Squirrel Nest, which was obviously the best card in the pack. It was a terrible pack to begin with. I second picked Elephant Ambush and third picked Nantuko Disciple, so I was well on my way to green. Sadly, I had to pass Krosan Archer, so apparently that led the opponent to my left to draft green. I had a reasonable eight cards in the first pack. I thought about drafting black/green instead of red/green. I opened my second pack and took some mediocre green card, I think it was Krosan Archer, passing Shadowmage Infiltrator of course. I get shipped the next pack, the uncommon is missing, and there are no good green or red cards (laughs). So I'm thinking "Wow, this is really bad" and it turned out to be very bad, and the best card I got out of the second pack was indeed my first pick Krosan Archer (laughs).

So I was really struggling for good cards in the third pack. I opened Basking Rootwalla and sadly had to take it. I second picked Seton's Scout, and third picked an Acorn Harvest. The sad thing is, the Parallel Evolution I opened did not come back! (laughs) So I ended up with this really terrible deck...I have three Earth Rifts and an Anarchist, so I'm attempting to play ghetto Magic and beat people that way.

Sideboard: So this isn't an intentional theme deck, it's more a case of trying to the best you can with what you have?McCord: Sadly, it's desperation. I do have Squirrel Mob, Acorn Harvest, Chatter of the Squirrel and Squirrel Nest.

Sideboard: Can you repeat the story that's been going around about you playing against Alex Shvartsman?McCord: Alex and I were playing the third game...I do have three Earth Rifts in my deck if I haven't mentioned that already. I Earth Rift him, and the game goes on for a while. He's stuck at four lands, and he has a few guys holding back my whole team, because my whole team is 1/1s sadly. So I rip Petravark, and take out his only swamp. He draws a swamp, I draw Earth Rift. He rips another swamp, I get another Earth Rift, and it keeps going back and forth. I run out of Earth Rifts after flashing them back and he plays Gloomdrifter, which destroys my whole team. That basically finished me off.

Sideboard: But it's still funny!McCord: No. (laughs)

Sideboard: Any predictions? You've still got two more rounds with this deck.McCord: I think I can get a bye.